Jonathan Mayer - son of the late Kolkata composer John Mayer - is a renowned sitarist & composer, who has composed extensively for many genres including jazz, Indian, dance & symphonic writing and has performed all over the world, and two very successful tours in India.

Jonathan began his musical training at just 5 years old, learning violin from his grandfather Albert Hepton, piano from James Methuen-Campbell and composition from his father, and later mastered the sitar. His ability to read Western notation has allowed him to perform in a variety of genres – playing with artists such as Orlando Consort, The London Philharmonic Orchestra and BBC Concert Orchestra, among other notable names.

As a composer he has written for Kenny Wheeler, Orlando Consort, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic & The Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic. He co-foundered First Hand Records in 2007.

Involved in the diverse arts sector in the UK for almost four decades, developing, innovating and pioneering arts activity as producer, director, writer, dramaturg, but mainly someone who has worked with artists to make their thing happen and hopefully get someone to see it. Equally, he has reached out to audiences in a strategic way to get them to see beyond what they want to see. From commissioning and producing large scale outdoor spectacles like Macbeth: Stage of Blood on the River Thames for LIFT (1997) “the most spectacular spectacle this year” (The Guardian), to ground-breaking productions such as Dogs of Desire in an underground car park to developing and leading the highly acclaimed pioneering Asian comedy strand– One Nation (from 1985 -99), Most recently he has produced national & international (incl Edinburgh Fringe) tours for Amina Khayyam Dance Company (2013-18) In total, Hardial has delivered over 175 projects of all scales.